DIFFERENT SOLUTIONS TO INSPECT PLATFORM RISERS

By R van Agthoven and H Quakkelsteijn, ApplusRTD, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

SUMMARY
The need for the inspection of pipelines and risers is growing, as the worldwide infrastructure
related to pipelines and platforms is ageing. Moreover, regulations today require periodical
inspections.
Today, many pipelines and the connecting risers are piggable and with the intelligent In-line
inspection (ILI) tools flaws can be detected to monitor integrity and fitness-for-purpose.
Different types of tools are needed to cover all possible flaws, such as metal loss, cracks,
geometric anomalies and leaks. Nevertheless, despite all kind of measures, the riser is still a
difficult section for inspection as it may have a very thick wall thickness or other obstructions,
thereby reducing the effectiveness of such ILI tools, also their speed in risers is difficult to
control.
This presentation focuses on the unpiggable risers where free swimming ILI tools cannot be
used or are of limited use. Application of internal tethered ultrasonic tools is discussed for
inspection of both crude oil and gas risers. Besides that, in the second part of this paper, also
non-intrusive methods will be shown as a valid alternative to inspect risers and pipelines from
the outside, even without removing marine growth. Today this can be done even at -200 m
using ROVs.
The presentation shows that each tool has a dedicated field of application. Operational
aspects as well as expected results will be discussed, they are of benefit for all operators of
platform risers in the oil and gas-industry operated in the North Sea and world-wide.
INTRODUCTION
The platforms in the North Sea are ageing, some are in place for over 25 years and although
they were initially designed for a 30 year life time operators are now looking for ways to
extend this period. This means that there is even more emphasis on inspections and NDT to
guarantee the integrity and safety of the installation. In this paper we focus on the risers, in
particular those that cannot be inspected with regular intelligent pigs.

Copyright 2007, Pigging Products and Services Association.

PART I: INSIDE RISER INSPECTION TOOLS, by R van Agthoven

There may be various reasons why risers cannot be inspected with free-swimming ILI tools.

TIDAL ACTION
INSIDE J-TUBE

J-TUBE

MA

IN

OPEN?
LI

NE

WELL

A riser may:
Connect to a main pipeline (branch-line)
Connect to a well
Contain internal diameter changes
Have a very heavy wall thickness
Have insufficient flow to drive an ILI tool
Tethered inspection tools can be adapted to cope with the above conditions. To deploy a
tethered inspection tool open access must be made to insert the inspection vehicle in the
riser. This requires shutting down and depressurization in order to safely open the riser. The
tethered tools discussed in this presentation are equipped with ultrasonic sensors.
A tethered ultrasonic tool has several advantages:

It is safe to operate, the tool can always be retrieved,

The tether allows on-line presentation of the inspection results
Ultrasonics provide quantitative results, no verification is needed
No flow is needed to drive the tool

To allow an ultrasonic inspection the riser must be filled with a liquid. This liquid acts as an
acoustic couplant, there is no need for the ultrasonic probes to be in contact with the ID pipe
wall, this is called immersion technique. As there can be a large distance between probes
and ID pipe surface it is capable of passing diameter restrictions, dents, ovalities without
problems.
In most cases, crude oil or condensate can remain in the riser. This requires proper safety
measures when opening the riser, sometimes the platform operator may choose to fill the
riser with water.

Page 2 of 6
Copyright 2007, Pigging Products and Services Association.

In order to inspect gas-risers with such a system

a procedure must be followed to fill the riser with
a liquid, often water. Obviously the pipeline will
be shut down and depressurized. A high friction
sealing pig is introduced, either through an
existing pig-trap, or a temporary trap, and by
pumping a metered amount of water behind the
sealing pig it can be pumped to a location just
after the bottom bend of the riser. The sealing pig
has enough friction to hold the head of water in
the riser and the riser can then be opened to
deploy and lower a riser inspection tool.

TETHER
UT-INSPECTION
MODULE

RISER
WATER

HIGH-FRICTION
SEALING PIG

Upon completion of the inspection the riser shall

be closed. By increasing the gas-pressure on the
other side of the sealing pig it will be pushed back
to the (temporary) pig trap and this also displaces
the water and can be drained.

GAS

Detection capabilities:
Ultrasonics allows the detection and quantification of various defects and parameters:
TOFD

ID CORROSION

STOP & SCAN WELD

WELD INSPECTION

ID GEOMETRY

WALL THICKNESS

OVALITY / DENT

OD CORROSION
CRACKS?
FATIGUE CRACKS?

The stand-off (immersion) technique allows mapping of the ID geometry, any dents
and/or ovalities can be detected, to 0.2 mm accurate
Internal corrosion can be mapped and quantified, to 0.2 mm accurate with a minimum
diameter of 10 mm
External corrosion can be mapped and quantified, to 0.2 mm accurate with a
minimum size of 5 mm,

The location, along the pipeline length, can be determined to 0.1% accurate and all data
can be recorded while the tool moves at a rate of 500-1000 m/hr.
To detect cracks or to inspect welds the transducer array can be adapted. Generally this
will be done after a geometry/corrosion survey, by then the location of welds or other
phenomena is known.
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Copyright 2007, Pigging Products and Services Association.

Circumferential fatigue cracks can be detected using the same probes as used for the
corrosion survey but mounted under an angle or to produce an ultrasonic beam of e.g.
45. Also such inspections can be performed while to tool is moving. This technique has
limited capabilities to size the defects in depth.
For more accurate sizing a TOFD (Time Of Flight Diffraction) technique can be used.
Both contact or immersion transducers can be used. This can be done when the
inspection vehicle stops at the weld or other area of interest and with an extra
mechanism on the vehicle the TOFD transducers can be moved along the circumference.
Also these inspection results can be shown in real time.
Tool versions:
TOOL ACCESS

Various versions of tethered

tools exist. Basically, they
can be divided in two
groups, these being:

TOOL ACCESS

STEEL STRUCTURE

CRAWLER CAN PASS

BENDS AND HORIZONTAL
SECTION(S)

LIMIT

CONCRETE BASE
PLATFORM

Gravity drive tools to

inspect straight vertical
riser parts only,
Tools with their own
traction module, they can
pass through horizontal
pipe sections also.

LIMIT=
CABLE LENGTH
AND BENDS

GRAVITY DRIVEN

CRAWLER DRIVEN

Systems exist for inspection of risers of 4 diameter and over, for water depths of 200 m.
Umbilicals (tethers) are available with lengths up to 10 km but in most cases only short
distances are to be inspected. Specially adapted versions for even deeper risers, or casings
do exist, they have travelled 750 m deep.
For tools that must pass bends it is important to know how many bends must be passed as
there will be friction between the cable and the inside of each bend. It is safe to state that
most tools can pass at least 4 off 90 bends.
For the inspection of risers it is of paramount importance that the full circumference is
inspected. Unlike in horizontal pipes, where ID corrosion often occurs at the 6 o clock
position only, corrosion in risers may occur at random locations on the circumference.
Hence, the UT system must provide 100% circumferential coverage. This can be achieved
by using a multiple of transducers equidistantly divided over the circumference or by using
one rotating transducer.

Page 4 of 6
Copyright 2007, Pigging Products and Services Association.

In both cases the

data is recorded with
a dedicated data
recording and
acquisition system
called PITMAPPER
for instant display of the results.
This allows our clients to take immediate action if needed.
The oil- and gas-industry moves into deeper water, think of areas like the Gulf of Mexico,
offshore Angola or Brazil to name a few. For water deeper than 200-300 m now floating
platforms are in use and today installations are coming on stream in 2000 m of water and
even deeper to come. Here we see no more risers fixed to jacket-structure (there is none)
but SCRs (Steel Catenery Risers) are hanging free to the sea-bed or tensioned, such as
TTRs (Top Tensioned Risers).
These risers are subject to movements in sea-currents, tidal differences and other loads, this
may result in fatigue crack damage in time.
This is recognized by the industry and tools are under development to detect such fatigue
damage under the difficult conditions present, think of high hydrostatic pressures,
temperatures, product velocities etc. A real challenge!
CONCLUSION, PART I, INTERNAL UT RISER TOOLS:
For many risers, especially in the shallow water areas, solutions exist to perform inside
inspections.
They have proven to be a reliable alternative or addition to ILI pigging for areas where such
tools cannot be used or have limited performance for different reasons.
The down-time is short, sometimes hours, and the application of ultrasonics means that no
verification is needed as the results are quantitative. Last but not least the umbilical is an
important safety aspect for the client as the tool can always be retrieved.

Page 5 of 6
Copyright 2007, Pigging Products and Services Association.

PART II: NON INTRUSIVE MEANS TO INSPECT RISERS, CAISSONS AND SUB SEA
PIPING, by: H. Quakkelsteijn
RTD-INCOTEST is an acronym for INsulated COmponent TESTing and it was originally
designed and developed for corrosion detection under insulation on objects made of low
alloyed carbon steel.
RTD-INCOTEST is a Pulsed Eddy Current inspection technology which is a cost-effective
alternative to traditional NDT inspection approach both above and below water: it is fast, it
guarantees high production rate, it is suitable for RBI and Integrity Inspection, it is not
affected by fouling and marine growth, and therefore no expensive cleaning is needed. It
does not need any contact with the object to be inspected; it may inspect through paint,
coating and concrete.RTD-INCOTEST system measures the decay time of the eddy current
induced in the object under examination. This eddy current is induced in the material by
means of a DC current circulating through the sending coil circuitry of the RTD-INCOTEST
sensor. This DC current generates a magnetic field that takes a while before getting uniform
and stable. The magnetic field lines generated are closed lines and move through the
insulation and the ferromagnetic object under examination. At the moment the current is cut
off, the sending coil stops generating the magnetic field. During this transient, Eddy Current
is induced in the ferromagnetic object under examination. This Eddy Current migrates
through the object wall and rapidly extinguish when it reaches the opposite object side. Eddy
current is a circulating current and it generates during its decay a variable magnetic field. Its
field lines move through the sensor receiving coils inducing a current. The RTD-INCOTEST
system measures the resulting voltage. This voltage is function of the object thickness and of
the material electromagnetic properties. RTD-INCOTEST is designed for generalised
corrosion detection and it will not perform with localised corrosion type such as small pits.
To monitor risers, caissons or sub sea piping at any given moment an on-stream
measurement can be taken with INCOTEST. In the splash zone the probe can be handled
with a riser tool, rope access operators or even a diver. The sub sea part obviously is the
territory for (saturated) divers or for ROVs. On forehand the number of measurements or
grid is agreed with the client. One cycle of a measurement will take a few seconds although
ROV use will slow down the inspection speed.
A recent INCOTEST inspection carried out in the North Sea at 90 and 140 meters depth at a
transport pipe and some small piping in a manifold showed that more than 700 measurement
points in just 8 hours was possible. The same exercise with conventional UT would have cost
much more time due to the fact removal of epoxy coating is a time consuming.
Another Non Intrusive technique is Guided Wave piping Inspection. The principle of Guided
Waves Piping Inspection (GWPI) is based on an ultrasonic pulse being sent through the pipe
around the whole circumference. Because of the excitation around the whole circumference,
there is no geometric spreading of the wave and thus low attenuation of the sound travelling
along the pipe. The technology functions by sending a pulse through the pipe and receiving
the echoes from geometric features. In this way, examination ranges can be achieved from 5
to 40 meters along the pipe from a single probe location, in both directions. Practically, the
range is usually around 20 meters, in both directions.
Corrosion damage is always a loss of the cross-section. Because this guided waves
technique is a screening tool, an indication is sized in percentage Estimated Cross-sectional
Loss (ECL).
Both techniques are rapid screening techniques that have advantages above traditional UT
wall thickness inspection. When they are applied with common sense they can save time,
reduce risk and can be a major financial cost saver.
Page 6 of 6
Copyright 2007, Pigging Products and Services Association.